Re: Re: Re: [Harp-L] Tuning

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

john thaden wrote:
> Upon receiving your email, I rechecked Pat Missin's "Tuning a 
> Harmonica" description http://www.patmissin.com/tunings/tun8.html.  
> I see he uses tuning tests which, when met, yield no beating.  
> <snip>
> I have not seen a harmonica tuning description based on countable 
> beating

Remember that we're talking about diatonic harmonicas (even chromatic 
harmonicas are essentially diatonic instruments), not chromatic 
pianos.  Modern pianos are not tuned justly, because that would render 
many useful chords dissonant and harsh.  Diatonic harmonicas are 
capable of only a limited set of chords, and it's possible to tune 
those chords to pure consonance (0 beats) on most of those intervals.  
If you look closely at Pat's procedure he speaks of "perfect" 
and "pure" intervals (4ths, 5ths, octaves).  That's not desireable with 
a piano for most applications.  

-tim